CHBUNG CHAU
105
Because of their loose organisation and lack of proper safeguards, these associations often ran into trouble over money. To quote an elder's reminiscences from the manuscript note book of the Tung Kwun association (which the present Chairman has kindly allowed me to see and use), compiled about 1928 but referring to the previous sixty years, "in the past there were upright managers, but there were also embezzlers, who appropriated public funds without authority. When X was in charge of our association's funds he reported that he had lost the account books, so nothing could be audited. It was through my persuasion he produced fifty dollars to end the matter". Similarly, he records how, on the death of a leading member who had been instrumental in purchasing new property for expanding the association, the members asked his family for the accounts and title deeds in his possession. The relatives refused to part with them unless a payment was made first. Members naturally refused, "which is why no title deeds or accounts are available from the early period".
The manuscript also contains interesting material which illustrates difficulties faced by conscientious managers, e.g. "This house was originally the property of X. Unfortunately he was murdered and the body could not be found. His relative Y donated the house to the association. At first no tenant would take it and the fabric deteriorated. In the second year of the Hsuan-t'ung reign (1910-11) repairs were suggested, but there were no funds. Loans of five and ten dollars were raised from district members at 1 per cent interest. I loaned over a hundred dollars interest free, but it was still insufficient, so the association joined a ten dollar (share) money association and drew the necessary balance.
The repair then started and the front is now let for $5.50 per month and the rear for $4 per month."
There was also the lighter side. Speaking of the annual dinner party on the 15th day of the first moon an elder recalled "this year there were 28 tables with over 220 people. The caterer was X and the cost was $7.20 per table. The food was no good and those present were dissatisfied and there was a lot of grumbling."
27 A search was made for this and the Ser Yap tablet but, though hot on the trail of the first named with what appeared an infallible clue, a digging party regrettably drew a blank,
28 In the Crown Rent Rolls the association is termed kung sor 2 in Chinese and "club" in English. An inscription on one of the stone lions outside the Pak Tai temple, the largest on the island, states that it was donated by the Wai and Chiu Chau community in 1861. Mr. LEUNG Yau
, born on Cheung Chau in 1875, attended the Wai-Chiu school, in the association's premises for two years (1885-86).
2o There was also a shrine in the Po On study. The tablet states that "a small fixture, known as the Tun Sin temple ('promote charity') has also been placed at one side of the hall, where wooden tablets bearing the names of the organisers are placed therein in commemoration of their devotion to the cause, irrespective of their parentage and place of origin."